Random musings on all things cinematical, and otherwise, by Joe Leydon.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

More free flicks at WorldFest/Houston

Free is good. Free movies are very good. And WorldFest/Houston has some very, very good news for serious cineastes: The Houston film festival -- now underway at the AMC Studio 30, 2949 Dunvale -- will expand its list of free attractions by offering two more freebies to local audiences this week.

Freebie No. 1: Cré na Cille(Earth of the Churchyard), a supernatural Irish dark comedy (in Gaelic with English subtitles) about life, death and all things in between. During the 1940s in a small Connemara village, the jealous rivalry between two sisters continues long into the afterlife. Showtime: 5 p.m. Thursday.

Freebie No. 2: Love Life of a Gentle Coward, a Croatian comedy that takes to heart the advice given a frustrated wordsmith in Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast: If you can't become a writer, become a critic. But the protagonist in Pavo Marinkovic's film -- a restaurant critic -- continues to be frustrated in his life and work until he takes a chance on love. Showtime: 5 p.m. Friday.

"All you have to do," says WorldFest/Houston founder-director J. Hunter Todd, "is go up to the ticket booth in the lobby of the AMC Studio 30 before either film, and just ask for free tickets. It's that simple."